ALBUMINURIA IN NORMALS AND ESSENTIAL-HYPERTENSION

The prevalence and determinants of urinary albumin excretion rate (AER ) were assessed in lean and overweight normotensive subjects (NT) and patients with essential hypertension (EH). In NT and EH, the presence of overweight was associated with a significant exacerbation of AER. I n the normotensive population, AER was higher in subjects with a posit ive family history of hypertension. An important role for smoking was observed in the hypertensive population; in fact, the prevalence of mi croalbuminuria (MA) was almost twofold in lean hypertensive smokers wh en compared to nonsmokers. Among other determinants of AER, a major in fluence of systolic arterial pressure, urinary excretion of urea (an e stimate of protein intake), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholest erol (inversely correlated with AER) was observed mainly in lean EH pa tients. The significance of microalbuminuria is unclear. Is it a marke r of cardiovascular risk and/or a predictor of the future development of renal disease in EH?